1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus and, more in particular, to a device for recording a photographed image in a directory.
2. Related Background Art
At present, in the image pickup apparatus such as a video camera and a digital still camera, the photographed image is generally recorded in a recording medium which is built in or mounted on a camera main body as a digital data file. Since there are many opportunities where the recorded image data is not only reproduced by the camera main body, but also transmitted to a personal computer (PC) or external peripheral equipment or the like so as to be managed and utilized, the same file format as adopted in the PC is generally adopted for a file format of the recording medium.
According to Design rule for Camera File system (hereinafter as DCF), for example, as shown in FIG. 12, under the directory by a fixed name of “DCIM”, the directory by the name of “100ABCDE”, which is characteristic of each equipment, is prepared, and under this directory, the photographed image file by the name such as “IMG—0001.JPG” or the like is subsequently recorded.
The amount of the image data increases according to an image size and an image quality. On the other hand, with the advancement of semiconductor technology, the recording amount of the recording medium has rapidly increased. For example, even in the case of a card type recording medium, those having a storage capacity of 64 M (mega) byte and 128 M byte have been put on the market. Assuming that the amount of an image data per one sheet is 200 K (kilo) byte, in the case of the recording medium having 128 M byte, a total of 640 sheets of the image can be recorded. Further, in the case of a hard disc type recording medium, there are those having several G (giga) byte.
When the recording amount of the recording medium increases in such a manner, since the number of files recorded in one recording medium increases, in a file constitution shown in FIG. 12, the number of files stored in one directory extremely increases. Even if a new directory is prepared for every fixed number of images and subsequent files are recorded in the new directory, the number of directories would increase.
In this way, in the case where the directory name and the image file name are automatically decided inside the camera according to the file constitution of FIG. 12, when the number of the directories and the number of image files increase, it is not possible to grasp the contents of the directory or the contents of the image file by just looking at the directory name or the file name. In order to confirm the contents of the image file, there is no way but to reproduce the file, and a reproducing unit is thus required. Accordingly, when those image files are put in order and classified in the future, fairly complicated works are required.
The photographing date can be confirmed by a time stamp attached to the directory and the file. However, it is not possible to grasp where and by whom the photograph is taken. For example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-164234, there is disclosed an electronic camera in which a directory including a name as well as a photographing date is newly prepared according to a certain operation.
In order to more easily put in order and classify the photographed files, an operator may prepare the directory of an arbitrary name and record the photographed image files under the directory. However, in recent years, the electronic camera has been downsized and a space for arranging an operation switch or an operation panel for preparing the directory has been fairly restricted, and therefore users are rather put in a position to go through rather complicated operations.
Further, in the information society connected through networks by Internets or the like, security problems of the data owned by an individual becomes more serious according to an increase in the capacity of the storage medium.